29 kids attend a school behind barbed wire on the border of North Korea — once called ‘the scariest place on earth’

Twenty-nine students attend school in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.American troops monitor the situation to the North and teach English to the students.Less than 100 miles away from the border lies 70% of North Korea’s soldiers.

In a small buffer zone on the southern side of the border that separates North and South Korea resides Daesungdong Elementary School.

The school is located in Taesung Freedom Village, a settlement in the Korean peninsula’s Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ was created in 1951 for peace talks during the Korean War, and is a small area of just a little over a mile on either side of the border.

While the conflict stopped after an armistice was signed in 1953, a peace treaty was never signed, which means the two countries are technically still at war.

On the southern side of the DMZ are American troops, many just a five-minute drive from a United Nations camp set up to monitor the situation to the North. Here, a US navy officer high-fives children at the Daesungdong Elementary School.

One of the students, a South Korean 4th grader named Lee Su-jin, said despite attending school in the DMZ, she isn’t worried for her safety. “People are worried about us, but soldiers are with us, and we do evacuation drills,” she told Reuters. “So I don’t think there is anything to be scared or worried about.”

The school had 29 students in 2016. There is a lottery to get into the school and students pay no fees for classes or meals.

English is a key subject in college entrance exams, which makes spots in the school even more coveted by families.

The school initially opened for children of farmers allowed to stay in the DMZ after the war. North and South Korea are still technically at war after the conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.